The present invention relates to a method of processing network reconfiguration information. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of processing reconfiguration information of a network composed of at least one host computer, a communication control processor (hereinafter called CCP) connected to the host computer, and a plurality of resources connected to the CCP, suitable for dynamically changing the network configuration information of the host computer and CCP under operation.
In a conventional technique for dynamically changing the network configuration information of a CCP, there is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication JP-A-63-156264, a reconfiguration information processing system in which, as a reconfiguration command is entered from a host computer, the reconfiguration data of the host computer is sent to the CCP which in turn dynamically changes its own reconfiguration definition information in accordance with the reconfiguration data sent from the host computer. This Publication also discloses that the host computer sequentially stores inputted reconfiguration commands in a history infoldnation file, and when an NCP load module is loaded to the CCP, the reconfiguration data associated with the previously entered reconfiguration commands and read from the history information file is sent to the NCP, so that the CCP automatically reconfigure its original network configuration definition information as if the reconfiguration commands were actually entered again.
In a computer network, if for example the reconfiguration information designated by the reconfiguration command contradicts with the physical network structure to be actually changed, it becomes necessary to change the reconfiguration information to the proper information. However, the above-described example technique does not disclose an effective method of changing such a defective reconfiguration command to a proper one.
Furthermore, according to the above-described example technique, the network configuration information at a CCP side becomes coincident with that at a host computer when the CCP restarts its operation. However, if the host computer restarts its operation upon loading a program while the CCP is already operating, the host computer does not send the reconfiguration data to the CCP. Accordingly, if there is a reconfiguration command whose reconfiguration process failed previously at the CCP because of some trouble, there occurs a problem that the host computer restarts, having an inconsistence of configuration definitions between the host computer and CCP.
Still further, in a network arrangement having a single CCP connected to a plurality of host computers, consider the case where a host computer having operated as a slave is changed to a master. In this case, if the new master host computer happens to forget entering a necessary reconfiguration command existing in the past, there occurs an inconsistence of reconfiguration definition information between the master host computer and CCP.